Donald Trump declares 'new age of American energy' as he destroys Obama's climate change legacy

US President Donald Trump set out to obliterate his predecessor Barack Obama's legacy on climate change as part of a bid to unleash America's energy potential.

Mr Trump last night signed a sweeping executive order slashing measures from the Obama era, a move that was welcomed by the oil and coal industries as a bold step to end regulations that were "choking" the economy.

Environmentalists condemned the move, accusing Mr Trump of wanting to "travel back to when smokestacks damaged our health" and said they would take his administration to court.

The president specifically targeted the Clean Power Plan, Mr Obama's signature effort to tackle global warming.

Mr Obama's plan required states in the US to cut carbon emissions from power plants collectively by 32 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

That measure was introduced in 2014 but has been stalled in the courts following challenges in Republican states.

It was key for the US to meet obligations under the 2015 Paris climate accord, which has been signed by nearly 200 countries.

In the election campaign Mr Trump promised to pull the US out of the Paris agreement but since taking office he has not mentioned it, and neither did the executive order. The issue was believed to be still under discussion at the White House.

Last night ExxonMobil, the giant oil company, urged the Trump administration to stay in the Paris agreement, calling it an "effective framework for addressing the risks of climate change".

Signing the order Mr Trump said: "My administration is putting an end to the war on coal. With today's executive action I am taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on American energy, to reverse government intrusion, and to cancel job-killing regulations."

Mr Trump, standing next to a group of miners at the Environmental Protection Agency, said it marked a "new era in American energy".

He added: "This is about bringing back our jobs, bringing back our dreams, and making America wealthy again. We love our coal miners.

"We are going to start a new American energy revolution, one that celebrates American production on American soil."

Scott Pruitt, Mr Trump's Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the president was "setting a new course".

He added: "It’s going to create jobs in the oil and gas sector. For too long, over the last several years, you’ve had certain industries, certain sectors of our economy that were within the cross hairs of the EPA. That is not going to happen anymore."

Mr Pruitt caused controversy recently by saying he was not convinced that carbon emissions from human activity are the primary driver of global warming.

It included ending an Obama-era moratorium on leasing government controlled land for coal mining, and eased limits on methane emissions from oil and gas production.

The president also made clear that the issue of carbon emissions would be less of a consideration in future when making decisions about infrastructure projects.

A White House official said: "The previous administration devalued workers with their policies. We can protect the environment while providing people with work."

During the election campaign Mr Trump repeatedly vowed to "put coal miners back to work" and criticised Mr Obama for waging a "war on coal," a stance which helped him win key states like Pennsylvania.

By contrast Hillary Clinton promised to "put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business " by concentrating on boosting renewable sources of energy.

Tyler White, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, said: "I cannot tell you how many jobs the executive order is going to create but I can tell you that it provides confidence in this administration's commitment to the coal industry."

Thomas J. Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce, praised Mr Trump for taking "bold steps" to end Mr Obama's "strategy of making energy more expensive through costly, job-killing regulations that choked our economy".

Tom Steyer, the billionaire head of activist group NextGen Climate, said: "These actions are an assault on American values and they endanger the health, safety and prosperity of every American,"

The order was also criticised by Barbara Hendricks, Germany's environment minister. She said "whoever tries to change into reverse gear is only going to harm themselves."

In November 2012 Mr Trump suggested on Twitter that the concept of global warming was created by China to "make US manufacturing non-competitive". In 2015 he told a rally: "A lot of it;s a hoax." At the end of last year M Trump said he had an "open mind" on the issue of climate change.

A White House official said yesterday that Mr Trump does believe in man-made climate change.

His pursuit of energy independence through slashing climate change regulations came as the US continued to import about 7.9 million barrels of crude oil a day, almost enough to meet the entire oil demand of Japan and India combined.